msnbc contributor dave wigle, gentlemen, good morning. >> good morning. >> it does seem that santorum has the momentum. what happened here? >> look at mitt romney's totals in the polls. they are still flatlined, the way they have been most of the year. he gets between 25%, 28%, sometimes up to 30%, sometimes down to the 2%, but he's always in the range. those are the people who accept mitt romney as the nominee. and the rest of the republican party continues to look for someone else. someone they consider a more authentic considerate or someone that is not mitt romney, so now those people have flocked to rick santorum. >> he is again pounding home that he's a conservative, he says that in his speeches. there's a new ad running in michigan today. let's take a look at it. ♪

>> i'm rick santorum and i approve this message. >> dave, what do you think about that? it is in the familiarly slick. you probably could have done it on your home computer but it does give a powerful message out. >> i suppose it does. one thing that is bolstering rick santorum in these states is that he hadn't been attacked. he was part of a round-up in ron paul's ads early in the campaign in iowa, but he has not been -- in the contests we saw last week with no delegates at stake where he made a play and bet on the media giving him momentum and then he won the bet, no one has attacked him. >> it is also interesting there are ads running in michigan right now, dave, by mitt romney, that are against his pac or against newt gingrich. which seems a little step

behind. >> yeah, you make the buys, that's one of the curses of having more money because you can buy weeks in advance. and they are going to pivot. you will see this a lot. the literature is not attacking santorum, but they can't just attack santorum. michigan is a state romney won with 32% of the vote in 2008. it's a state with a lot of moderates to vote in this primary. there are ways to tweak santorum but -- look, winning in michigan is relative. we are going to pay a lot of attention to the margin there, but the reason santorum is participating at all is if you get any high percentage of the vote you get some delegates. it is proportional. arizona is winner-take-all. >> let's look at the possibility, gene, with the delegates santorum could walk away with it. he does have the relatability, don't you think? he's pushing himself now, not talking about social issues in michigan, but he wants to present himself as the guy who

understands your economic problems. meantime, mitt romney has an editorial in the detroit news. here's a quote from it, the president tells us that without his intervention things in detroit would be worse. i believe without his intervention there things would be better. what do you make of that? >> that's a real tough sell, i'll tell you. mitt romney is going to be a dog throughout this michigan campaign by writing that saying let our industry go bankrupt and let the dust settle and see what's left, essentially. that's not a popular stance in michigan. that's never going to be a popular stance in michigan. and i don't think most voters are going to agree that had obama not intervened that things would be going as relatively well or as they are now. most people think things would be worse. and you're right about santorum. he's going to kind of play up

the working class mystique and play against romney, whom i think he'll paint as a wall street patrician. >> while there's good news in the pew poll for santorum, there's better news for president obama who easily beats romney and santorum. and i guess just a month ago things were a lot closer between the president and mitt romney. >> well, you see this happen in primaries where everyone is running for the right, especially in the last week what have republicans been talking about? they have been talking about the ins and outs of con straw sense. and mitch mcconnell is defending the idea of letting the insurer not cover contraception. i'm not sure how much that permeated but these guys have been running to prove they are more conservative. more importantly, apart from the commodity prices you have seen more optimism about the economy. there's one foul point to make,

when mitt romney won michigan in 2008, his message was not to let them go bankrupt, it was i'll do whatever it takes to bring michigan back. he can make a more subtle message now about how the auto bailout shouldn't have been handled the way it was and the unions got too much of the deal and people who had money invested in the funds were left out in the cold, but eugene is right, that's a tough target and that's not how he won the state four years ago, which is why santorum is doing so well there. >> santorum's gapes have come at the expense of newt gingrich way down in the polls, now the unflun shl magazine is calling for him to drop out of the race altogether. editors at "the national review" accuse gingrich of poor judgment and being unpopular. quote, when he led santorum in the polls, he urged the pennsylvanian to leave the race. on his own arguments the proper course for him now is to endorse santorum and exit.

jim garrity is here, good morning. >> chris, good to be here. >> is it fair to ask anyone to drop out? >> well, that editorial never comes out and says, newt, you should get out. it reminds him not that long ago he was up and santorum had a bad couple of contests newt gingrich said it was time for the field to be cleared and it was coming down to him and romney and santorum was wasting everyone's time in this. now gingrich is the guy in the polls now in third place and starting to slip down further. it is not really going to happen, gingrich will not take the advice of my employer or anybody else, but the question is not whether he's in or relevant to the race and if he drops down further there's a serious argument to make that newt is turning into an afterthought in the race. newt is moot.

>> you heard he responded to this yesterday. aic a listen. >> the "national review" wanted many e to drop out in june. yo go running around $it is silly. you guys go around to pick up the same people who said i was dead in june who then said i was dead after iowa. you know, twice i led in the gallop polls, okay? now that strikes me as a fair real candidacy. >> so realistically, jim, do you see newt gingrich dropping out before the convention? >> as a fairly real candidacy, not imaginary, that's the warm, friendly newt we have come to expect from this. yes, it is an election cycle and we have seen a great deal of dramatic turns. as one person said, we are seeing quick turns but this doesn't necessarily mean that -- newt gingrich has come back twice, whether he can come back a third time in places like michigan, he's at 11%, california, 17%, the national polls you showed -- look, anything is possible. there's another debate in a

couple weeks and that's traditionally where newt shows his rock' em, sock' em skills. right now rick santorum is the man of the hour. we'll see if he holds on to it, but in michigan things look promising for him. >> that's the interesting part of this, eugene, because he's a guy that has run a campaign, nobody thought he would still be here at this point. he has virtually no money. his super pac is dwarfed by the amount of money newt gingrich has raised and has no organization. i wonder if newt gingrich did for some crazy reason that would surprise us all actually decide to get out of this race. at this point in the campaign, how serious a threat is rick santorum really, do you think, gene, to mitt romney? >> well, if newt gingrich did get out, if he got out tomorrow,

then i think rick santorum would be a very serious threat to mitt romney because he would be able to consolidate the anti-mitt romney vote, essentially. except that which is going to ron paul, which is going to paul no matter what. but that's a sizable vote. you put his numbers to the polls together with gingrich's and you got something there. >> would it work that way, pretty much all newt's votes would go to santorum? >> i think most of them would because i think most of those people are looking for an alternative to romney, but why would newt drop out now? at least he wants to go to super tuesday. look where he's done well. he's done well in south carolina, he did very well in the part of florida that's more likely old south, the panhandle counties, so on super tuesday you've got georgia where he'll -- he was a congressman from georgia and will do well, but he won't win georgia. we have tennessee where he could do well, although he's not doing that well in the polls there

now, but he can campaign there. and the following week you have alabama and mississippi. what's important about this is that the south is the heartland of the republican party. it's the concentration of the republican base is in the south. and it will be very awkward for the party to go to november with a standard bearer who can't carry the heartland of the party. and that would be mitt romney. >> on the other hand, one of the themes we have heard over and over again from mitt romney is i'm the one whose the washington outsider. business as usual has not worked. the other agree guys spent most of their careers in washington. let me play for what mitt romney had to say late yesterday. >> but perhaps the greatest distinction is how what we have done during our lives, our life experience. the other guys have spent their life entirely in government, and my view, it's helpful to be involved in two businesses, an olympics and a state and had a

chance to run those as an xeak five executive. >> is this an argument that can help him win votes? >> i think that has been a successful argument for him in the past. let's put the santorum thing in perspective, because we have watched a lot of surges in the previous campaigns. fool me once, shame on me. santorum is vuer inable vulnerable in ways apart from the ron paul ads. the fact is romney probably couldn't have won re-election, but in the senate, santorum was key to the state project voting for medicare part dshs and there are a bunch of votes he took to that now bring the conservatives to vote for him. people who are conservative voter who is really do like the services government provide, but

they rebel against the bush-era of the republican party. santorum was part of what they were rebelling against. if you talk to tea party leaders, they like him but those elements have not been brought out whereas romney's record, he was -- i'm going to not use the word severely anymore, but he wasn't as deserving of the governor of massachusetts as he says, but his end point was he made money in the private sector and republicans, even if they don't connect to him that emotionally, they do like that biography. look at the kind of people they nominated in 2010. they like that better than the politician. >> who thought severely fund-raising would be the montra. thank you, guys. >> thank you. new developments in the death of whitney houston. we are just learning that the funeral for the pop star will take place this saturday, 12:00 noon, at the new hope baptist church in newark, new jersey. and that there will be no wake.

more details on that in three minutes. and this morning the next president of china is scheduled to meat president obama at the white house. the vice president is expected to lead lie china next year and the white house wants to get to know him better. they will discuss military presence in australia and diplomatic issues involving iran and syria. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day.

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this is the private jet that carried the body of superstar whitney houston from los angeles to newark, new jersey, overnight. then her casket was taken by a golden hearse to a nearby funeral home. a me a ma ellis is in newark, new jersey. i know there's late-breaking word about plans for the funeral. what the can you tell us this

morning? >> reporter: chris, i can tell you a short while ago the owner of this funeral home told us that according to the family of whitney houston her funeral will be this saturday at noon at the new hope baptist church. there will be no wake for the pop singer. again, she was trying to dispel reports that were saying that the funeral and a wake might take place at another location. she said that is not going to happen. again, the funeral is this saturday at noon at the new hope baptist church where whitney houston grew up. it's a church that seats about 2,000 people and apparently, again, this is according to the family wishes, the funeral saturday at noon at new hope baptist church. chris? >> what more do we know about the investigation into her death at this point, rehema? >> reporter: questioning are still swirling about her death. people are talking about the possibility of the drug overdose because there are reports of prescription drug bottles being found in her room. we do know that whitney

houston's body was found in the bath tuck tub of her hotel room and she was under water, apparently she was in the bathtub under water and apparently unconscious. but the coroner's office says they do not have any confirmed results from the toxicology reports at this point. and it may be several weeks before anything comes through. so at this point he's saying they do not have an exact cause of death. >> rehema ellis reporting for us there, thank you so much. if it turns out whitney houston died because she od'd on prescription pills, she's far from alone. take a look at the list of celebrities. marilyn monroe, dorothy dandrigde, jimi hendricks, keith moon, anna nicole smith, heath ledger, and now there are prescriptions of the over-prescription of america in general. this is the head of an

steezologist at the medical center in cleveland, ohio. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> the cdc says the over supply of prescription pain killers is bringing out an epidemic. what are we talking about here? >> the recent white house study showed prescription drug abuse increased by how 400% over the last ten years. >> 400%? do we know -- these kinds of death are so high profile, but how often does this happen with common folks? >> the data shows there are more people who are admitted to emergency rooms and who eventually die from overdose on prescription medications than on illegal medications. so more people die from drugs like xanax and okcy con tin than cocaine and heroin. >> why does it seem so easy to get the prescriptions? there are all sorts of scenes in movies that are a joke, somebody

says, anybody have a valium and everybody goes into their purse. but is it really that easy? is it too easy? >> there's probably over-prescribing by doctors to make their patients feel better and to give them relief. pain is a common complaint. i hurt my back last week, okay, here are pain medications. the fact they are legal people don't feel as bad about taking them. if my doctor prescribed them, they should be okay. >> i read the accounts again of the celebrity deaths dating back to marlilyn monroe, many of the were taking something to help them sleep. are these the most common prescribed now? >> xanax is probably one of the top ten drugs prescribed in america today. consider that with anti-hypertensive drugs and diabetes drugs to be in the top

ten, that's a pretty significant number. >> the question is, how could something like this happen? it does seem that in most of these cases, these were accidental deaths. there's no indication that whitney houston was unhappy or heath ledger, he loved his daughter. so how easy is it, if you're already under the influence, let's say, of something, to not realize that you're taking more than is safe because of your inability to think has been clearly compromised? >> that's absolutely correct. people build up a tolerance to them. if they took one for a couple of months and now need two and soon they need three. if they mix drugs with alcohol or with other drugs, i took two of these yesterday and three the day before, maybe i'll take all five at the same time. you're right, once their judgment becomes impaired they don't think and rationalize through these things. >> it's a word of warning that a lot of people obviously across

america might want to heed this morning. dr. howard neerman, thank you so much. >> my pleasure, thank you. and doctors are asking asked to speed up the production of a drug that can cure about 90% of the roughly 3500 american children and teens who are diagnosed every year with a rare form of leukemia. but it's in sport supply after a lab in ohio making the drug was temporarily closed down because of improper equipment maintenance. doctors say hospitals could run out of the drug in days. who is the "your business" entrepreneur of the week? she decided to buy a piggly wiggly, but instead of opening one restaurant she opened three. they share the same kitchen so she saves money on resources. for more, watch "your business" on sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. ♪ they see me rollin'

♪ they hatin' ♪ patrolling and tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ [ mom ] hi, there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of a tiguan, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ to politics now where rick santorum got into a tangle at a tacoma rally with occupy protesters. it was tough to sear hear what he was saying in washington state but he didn't give up. in fact, he used the rowdy protesters to make his point. >> we have to provide an opportunity for them. instead of standing here unemployed yelling at

somebody -- >> well, it must be tough to squeeze in a very special valentine's day on the campaign trail, but newt gingrich is going to give it his all. >> all i can promise you is that i believe she will be quite happy tomorrow night. and we are going to have a nice little private -- i think this is the first time in a while, we'll have a private dinner and just hopefully exchange gifts and reconnect a little bit. but i'm not going to get into any more details. >> he's smiling. check out michelle obama as guest at the bet honors. she was dancing with aretha franklin in the audience and introduced her friend and mentor, mya angelou. >> that is the magic of mya angelou. how she combines that other worldly genius with a spirit

that is so firmly and fully human. that is what mya does. >> well, another fabulous dress. the show was taped back in january. and february is black history month. on this date, 1990, it marks the first time nelson mandela stayed at his home following his release from prison days earlier. his return was welcomed with massive celebrations, a symbol to many of apartheid. he served 27 years in prison for opposing the white rule in south africa and later became the nation's first black president. because with get-it-done savings on everything we need... we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... or an updated bathroom... or a brand-new look. so let's hit those orange aisles, and make today the day, we make a big difference, no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot maximize your budget with great buys, like mosaic tile, just $4.98 per square foot.

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attacks in india and georgia that targeted israeli diplomats. israel blames iowan and its allies for carrying out the attacks. new amateur video out of syria shows heavy smoke as more syrian government tanks arrive. nbc news cannot verify the video but activists say syrian forces have kept up the assault on the city for more than a week. the civil rights chief is warning of an all-out civil war. an estimate 5d,000 people have been killed since the conflict began a year ago now. police in the krir caribbean island of nebus are looking for the man who robbed justice stephen breyer, his wife and his friends. the 73-year-old, their wife and their houseguests were confronted by a machete-yielding man who robbed them.

and washington has signed the gay marriage bill. and kate middleton is spending her first valentine's day as a married woman away from her husband. prince william is deployed and the duchess visited a charity where the 8-year-old boy whose mom worked there got kate a valentine's day card and a bouquet of roses. how cute. well, given what is going on in washington, you probably didn't see this coming. republicans reversing and agreeing to the extended payroll tax cut without paying for it. in just minutes the president will make a push to extend the payroll tax cut and will be joined by people who can explain what the extra $40 a week in their paycheck means to them. good to see you, dana, good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> what's the republican

strategy here? >> i guess you can say it is graceful retreat. the president's popularity has been going up along with the improvement in the jobs reports, the general consumer confidence looking at the economy, republicans realize they were going to look entrenched like they were trying to slow down the economy, look like they were denying tax cuts to tens of millions of hard-working americans and just decided principles are one thing, politics is more important in the election year. let's just cut our loss now and move on to fight about something else. >> given the fact it is not paid for, and we know what that means to conservatives in the party, is there general agreement, though? are the republicans going to do infighting on this or is it done? >> well, sure, you can never say anything is done, particularly in the house republican caucus just because there are so many conservatives, particularly freshman conservatives, who don't really answer to anybody,

but it is one of those situations where you see sooner or later they have to cave and the sooner they do it the less embarrassing it is for them. they can move on to other things. yes, it adds $100 billion to the deficit. heck, the president just threw another trillion on to the national debt over ten years yesterday, so what's another $100 billion? >> we'll talk about the president's budget since you bring it up, a nearly $4 trillion plan that is slammed by republican presidential candidates. let me play a couple clips. >> the president came out with a new budget today. and -- yeah, you have reason for that response. >> another trillion-dollar budget deficit, another tax-the-rich scheme. more tax, more government. >> the time to stop it is right now. >> nobody is saying the budget is going to go anywhere, but it does set up a pretty clear contrast between the democrats and the republicans. do any of these candidates have

a serious counter offer or is everybody just kind of waiting for what paul ryan comes up with? >> well, this is an election year. who needs a budget? everybody needs their campaign documents. even before the president came out with his budget yesterday, harry reid said in the senate there's no budget to be passed there this year, so it was dead on arrival in the democratic-controlled senate. the republican candidates would surely not want to be too articulate in their own plans because it would give president obama something to campaign against. what obama did was say, look, i'm just going to sit back and let paul ryan come out with his proposal so i can whack the republicans again for trying to cut medicare, trying to cut entitlements and taxes on the rich. it was a saying of, i'll pass, it's your move, republicans, so i can beat up on you for that. it is not a budget, it's a campaign document. >> dana, thanks to you.

i want to go to the white house, kristen welker is there to talk about the president's views on the payroll tax cut. what do we expect there today? >> reporter: a little bit of political theater here today with president obama being joined by some americans, his supporters likely, and he'll talk about what the significance of $40 to these folks who he'll be joined by. this is a tactic we saw the white house take back in december when congress was deadlocked over the payroll tax cut, so he'll be urging congress again today to pass the payroll tax cut extension. so why $40? well, that's the amount that the white house says the average american would lose every two weeks if the payroll tax cut does expire, which is expected to happen at the end of this month. the white house is also going to revive something else that they did during december, which is this hashtag 40 twitter feed, so encouraging people to tweet what $40 means to them. what they could buy with $40 and

what the cost would be if they were to lose that $40 every two weeks. as you were just mentioning, president obama back in december really saw his approval ratings go up. he saw the tide start to turn. the white house thought the tactic back then was quite successful, so that's why we are seeing it unearthed again today. really popping or tapping in to some of the populist frustration. >> thank you. we'll have the president for you when he comes to the podium. in the meantime, check this out. >> you have done what the senate said he couldn't do. >> he's the first candidate we have ever seen who had an organization that brought together the internet and the community organizing. >> this is the latest campaign video for the president, four minutes long out thing his social media strength. msnbc's richard louie is here

and this president wrote the book on campaign media in 2008, but on the republican side, who is winning? >> first of all, good morning to you, chris. imagine this for a second, a text message bill over $140,000. the president's election campaign paid that just last year. and gop contenders are working to try to catch up right now. here's who leads the 140-character challenge. newt gingrich as you can see on the left-hand side with 1.4 million twitter followers. ron paul and mid romney in the middle. and santorum's twitter followers lagging at 124,000. santorum's followers grew by 137% from last month. gingrich just as 4% over there. the others not bad with an over 50% gain. we'll take a look at facebook. romney has the most friends with paul right behind. gingrich and santorum trail, but it saw santorum trail up over

211% from last month. the rest, reasonable gains. the biggest spikes came in political online video. youtube views were gargantuan, more than 12 million made the last two months for the four candidates put to the here. and the super pacs will go online more. the social media strategy may not be new. >> confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plans. >> with his famous fireside chats, no fireside, but only a small studio. >> back then the 31 radio addresses hopped over newspapers and the middlemen reaching tens of millions directly. the tens of millions of dollars were unheard of. $70 years later the political clouts are not too different and e-marketer estimates the number here, some 178 million people review videos online in 2012. that's up by 50 million people from 2008. one thing fdr did not have,

search engines. campaigns now know the videos we watch, the words we text and the links we click. >> fascinating. thank you so much, richard. one of those big companies that many of us use, apple, generating a lot of online buzz. the company that the late steve jobs saved from bankruptcy in 1997 is now worth more than microsoft and google combined topping the half-trillion mark for the first time ever. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money, and apple stocks are over $500 a share and now rumors of the new ipad. >> apple may be launching the next ipad on march the 7th. that's not just a rumor, there's also the possible launch of i-tv later this year. these are coming to drive the apple shares up more than 20% year to date. they also reported the next ipad will come with 4g connectivity

and that verizon and at&t will sell the tablets. there are also rumors regarding the future possible smaller tablet. reports of a 7-inch mini ipad, and while apple may not release the smaller tablet, a lot of people say it will have to address all the screen sizes that the competitor and the android tablet world has been putting out, for example, like competitor samsung. if you were wondering, microsoft still holds the record for the northeast most expensive evaluation with the market closing out in 1999 at just over $600 billion and peeked at the height of the tick bubble at $650 billion. that's come a long way now since then, but there you go, still holding the record. >> let me go back to apple for just a second because there's criticism and is agreeing now to allow inspections at foreign factories. what was the controversy there? >> apple has been responding to the growing outcry over conditions that some of the

overseas factories and the outside organization is auditing the working conditions at plants where a lot of iphones, ipads and other products are being built. those will be made transparent and public. at apple stores around the world last year, and there have been reports of difficult conditions inside the facilities. it will be interesting to see what the reports bring out. >> thank you, mandy. lovely in red. happy valentine's day. >> you too, slis chris. the "sports illustrated" issue came out and the top issue is the one for the models. >> number nine, jessica golmes. >> where else can you see almost naked women, except on the internet. >> number eight, melissa miller. >> forget number seven, i just want to stand here and look hot. >> number five, genevieve

morton. >> requested sports illustrated" is made from 99% recycle material. >> number two, kate upton. >> the art department was able to air brush my mustache. >> and number one is the best one ever. irena shake. >> it's not in 3d but it looks like it is. s double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? nyqui tylenol: me, too. and cougnasal congestion.ers?y day. nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him.

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that's next. social issues have in the last couple of weeks redefined the 2012 campaign for president. just listen to this radio ad. >> thanks to president obama the 99% of women who use birth control in america could now hear this same message. you see, we scored an important victory when the president stood up for our health care and guaranteed coverage of birth control at no coast. >> that obviously was paid for by a pro-choice group, but on the other side tea party activists think birth control could bring their supporters to the polls in november. nancy keegan is the president of pro-choice america and katrina pearson is an executive director of watch it's thevote.org. >> good morning. >> nancy, these ads are on the air in orlando, wisconsin and virginia, are republicans crazy about the compromise? >> look, the policy that the

president put forth this last week is a good decision for women. and it means that millions of women, including nurses, janitorial staff, college professors, will have access to birth control. so this is a win for women in this country and it's a win for the president. because it is going to draw the contrast between a president who stood with women and their access to contraception and birth control and those that oppose it and want to stand between a woman and her birth control. so absolutely for 2012, this is a president who stood with women. >> on the other side, the tea party is not known for getting involved in social issues, is that going to change in 2012? is this issue going to reinvigorate your supporters and followers? >> the good news is this is not a social issue. even though 54% of catholics voted for the president in 2008 and they came out in support of health care reform, what they understand now is that an individual mandate by the

federal government is, in fact, an infringement upon our rights in this country, not just a particular sect, although they are figuring that out, but this is an attack on freedom in this country as well as religious freedom. >> so you think as a first attempt issue it could invigorate voters? >> well, absolutely it could invigorate voters because what the catholics are seeing is that reform was a great idea, they are being impacted in their religious rights and they are being trampled upon. what happens to the business owner who has a moral conscious and wants to opt out as well? are they going to get a waiver? probably not. i did see the archbishop out there with us in 2009 fighting against government health care and the mandate that came with it. there is a way to address these issues in this country and there's a way we can constitutionally solve these problems. government health care and an individual mandate is simply not the answer. >> nancy, i can tell you are dying to jump in there. >> chris, let me tell you that

the president's solution does not infringe on the religious liberty here. it basically allows women to access birth control with no co-pay, which mean that is is an unbelievable pocketbook issue for these women. now, with regard to the catholic faith and other religions, they are not required to cover this under the new rule. 98% of catholic women use birth control. 99% of women use birth control. and even the catholic population as a whole support the president's policy solution, so it's a bogus argument. additionally -- >> let me add, we are not talking about a religious issue here, we are talking about the mandate. somebody's paying for the birth control, whether it's the people getting it or somebody else, who is paying for it? >> this is about health care and insurance coverage for a basic health care called birth control. and let's be clear here, these women across the country are

going to see the difference between a president who stood with them and have access to birth control and the coverage without a co-pay when they walk into the pharmacy and the people that are running against this president who want to deny women that access to birth control. >> we have to leave it there, nancy keegan, thank you. the conversation goes on. the tweet of the day comes from msnbc's alex wagner. it is trending now in google. chocolate covered strawberries and obama budget. one of these things, way more delicious than the other. ake because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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developing now, the payroll tax cut is the topic. the president is at the white house surrounded by folks who want that $40 a week in their paycheck. let's listen. >> do not forget, i speak from experience here, it is important that you remember this and go big, that's my advice.

lately i have been saying that this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class in america. and for folks who want to be in the middle class. we face a choice. we can settle for a country where a few people do really, really well and everybody else struggles just to get by. or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same set of rules. and that second option -- i strongly believe that's the kind of measuring we want for our kids and grandkids. that's who we are. that's the america that we believe in. that's what we have to roll up our sleeves and get back to doing is creating an america where everybody is doing their fair share, everybody gets a fair shot, everybody is engaging

in fair play. and we are still fighting our way back from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, and we still have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. it's going to take time to recover all the jobs that were lost when the recession was add its depths, but the fight is beginning to turn our way. over the past two years our businesses have added over 3.7 million new jobs, our manufacturers are hiring more new workers to make more new things here in america than at any time since the 1990s, so our economy is growing stronger. and the last thing we need, the last thing we can afford to do, is to go back to the same policies that got us in this mess in the first place. the last thing we need is for washington to stand in the way of america's comeback. first and foremost, that means washington shouldn't hike taxes

on working americans right now. that's the wrong thing to do. but that's exactly what's going to happen at the end of this month in a couple weeks if congress doesn't do something about it. the payroll tax cut we put in place last year will expire. the typical american family will shell out nearly $1,000 more in taxes this year. you'll lose about $40 out of every paycheck if congress does not act. and that can't happen. not now. and it doesn't have to. congress needs to extend that tax cut along with vital insurance lifelines for folks who have lost their jobs during this recession, and they need to do it now without drama and without delay. no ideological sideshows to gum up the works, no self-inflicted wounds, just pass this

middle-class tax cut, pass the extension of unemployment insurance policy, do it before it's too late and i will sign it right away. [ applause ] >> now the good news is over the last couple of days we have seen hopeful signs in congress that they realize they have to get this done. and you're starting to hear voices talk about how can we go ahead and make this happen in a timely way on behalf of the american people. that is good news. but as you guys know, you can't take anything for granted here in washington, until my signature is actually on it, so we have to keep on making sure that the american people's voices keep breaking through until this is absolutely finally, completely done. physical you see me sign this thing, you have to keep on speaking up. until you see that photograph of me signing it at my desk, make

sure it is verified, certified, if it is not on the white house website, it hadn't or hasn't happened and i want to make sure your voices were heard. last december your voices made all the difference. we asked voters to tell us what it could be like if they lost $40 out of every one of their paychecks, because we wanted to make sure that people understood this is not just an abstract argument. this is concrete. this makes a difference in the lives of folks all across the country in very important ways. tens of thousands of working americans flood us with their stories, and some of them are here today. and their feedback has been pretty unanimous. allowing the tax cuts to expire would make people's lives harder right now, it would make their choices more difficult, it would be $40less for groceries, to feed your kids, it would be